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How KasKids™ works | Becoming a KasKids™ school
Students around the world take action on AIDS
Dear educator, parent or student,
Welcome to KasKids™ – a social services and arts education schools' program that has been developed in response to the plight of the 1.4 million AIDS orphans and abandoned children of South Africa.
The growing success of our primary program, knit-a-square, made us understand that while the crisis seemed insurmountable – 500 more children a day become orphans as a result of HIV/AIDS and poverty – there is an army of people around the world desperate to help.
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Knit-a-square is our international online project that asks the world’s knitters and crocheters to make 8”/20cm squares and send them to South Africa to be made into blankets by volunteers. These are then distributed to the orphans and abandoned children in squatter settlements and on the streets.
In 2009 that army of volunteers, from 35 countries around the world, produced 52,045 squares and 4,737 knitted items for these impoverished children.
But how can we have an impact on a sustainable scale?We began to see that the broader solution to the tragedy of the AIDS orphans and abandoned children lay as much with the children of today and into the future as with adults in the present.
The KasKids™ program aims to provide a sustainable platform for tackling the issue by teaching them how they can be a force for change.
The core theme of the program is empowerment. Students are empowered when they see the physical results of their efforts They are empowered when they learn they are participating in a global awareness-raising campaign that aims to change the orphans’ situation, from the ground up.
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Knit-a-square is a KasCare program. Join our community of more than 3,000 people from 35 countries around the world, who lovingly knit or crochet 8” squares to make hand-made blankets. These blankets comfort and warm AIDS orphans and abandoned children who live in South Africa. Join in our monthly challenges and make knitted hats, pullovers and vests too.
LEARN MORE or DONATE
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Calendar of Events
“I believe this could very well be looked back upon as the sin of our generation…and our children 40 or 50 years from now are going to ask ‘what did you do while 40 million children became orphans in Africa?’”
Richard EStearns, USA President World Vision
“Our entire fifth grade has learned how to knit with the help of some fabulous parent volunteers…Our goal is to be able to send well over 300 squares by May from our fifth grade students. I wanted you to know how much the children in our classes have been affected by hearing about the children you help. Thank you for making a difference and helping our kids to see that there are children just like them who are needing assistance. I think that what they feel and learn from doing this will be so fulfilling.”
Kristen Gryskevich, Teacher
Brownsburg, Indiana
Subscribe to Square Circle e-zine
Our online magazine features stories of the children, the blanket distributions, our
partnerships on the ground in South Africa, participating schools in the KasKids™ program and the beautiful knitted and crochet work we receive from over 3,000 members in
35 countries. Subscribe here.
